1. Field of the Invention
The invention in general relates to underwater acoustic transducers, and more particularly, to a sonar transducer useful for forming narrow beams.
2. Background Information
Sonar transducers generally include one or more active transducer elements for the projection and/or reception of acoustic energy. In order to form an extremely narrow beam, such as may be utilized in the side looking sonar field, the transducer is elongated and contains a plurality of active elements arranged in a line array. In general, the longer the array the higher will be the resolution obtainable. However, there is a limit on the length of the transducer since the housing which carries the active elements becomes prohibitively massive for practical use. With the present invention, present day limits on length can be greatly increased so as to provide for much higher resolution systems.